Post by Sammy Jankis on Sept 10, 2012 16:32:12 GMT 10
Bolt approvingly quotes Brendan O'Neill:
He's right! Just look at all the apologetics offered for the massacre in The Guardian:
Marikana mine shootings revive bitter days of Soweto and Sharpeville
South Africa: Marikana is a turning point
Jacob Zuma risks removal over handling of Marikana mine killings
The Marikana action is a strike by the poor against the state and the haves
...as you can see, they've looked the other way.
He's right about Amnesty International too. They did hide their report about the killings. It's tucked away at the top of their page on South Africa. And look at how this Amnesty director tries to wriggle out of casting judgement:
Apparently demanding a judicial inquiry into the events is being too soft. What should they have asked for? A UN authorised nuclear strike?
Is this what people like Bolt and O'Neill have been reduced to? A tradgedy like this occurs somewhere in the world and the lack of an editorial (despite the existence of reports and other commentary) indicates a newspaper's part in a conspiracy of silence? Do we really want to spend all of our time finding out which acts of brutality the other side hasn't condemned yet? Pathetic.
As for world leaders keeping their mouths shut, I couldn't find any news of Mitt Romney condemning the killings - is he in on the conspiracy of silence?
I couldn't find any news of David Cameron condemning the killings - is he in on the conspiracy of silence?
I searched blogs.news.com.au for 'Marikana' and only got Bolt's post quoting O'Neill - are News Ltd bloggers in on the conspiracy of silence?
Try to imagine the global outrage there would be if the police in Russia or China shot and killed 34 protesting workers… World leaders would hold press conferences so that they could be photographed solemnly shaking their heads… Amnesty International would have to hire extra part-time staff…
And yet when those very things happened in South Africa – first the massacre of 34 miners in Marikana on 16 August and then the arrest of the surviving miners under a warped Orwellian law of the apartheid era that allows protesters to be charged with murder if the state kills some of their fellow protesters – the global gatekeepers of the human-rights culture said barely a peep. Amnesty issued a feeble statement, hidden deep on its website, about the need for the ANC government to institute a judge-led inquiry into the killings. And then it went straight back to organising global protests to have Pussy Riot released from their Russian jail. For Amnesty, three pretty white chicks are clearly way more important than 34 dead black blokes. Britain’s liberal broadsheets, which pride themselves on speaking truth to power, have published no thundering editorials about the massacre, no stinging critiques of the ANC. World leaders are also keeping schtum.
He's right! Just look at all the apologetics offered for the massacre in The Guardian:
Marikana mine shootings revive bitter days of Soweto and Sharpeville
South Africa: Marikana is a turning point
Jacob Zuma risks removal over handling of Marikana mine killings
The Marikana action is a strike by the poor against the state and the haves
...as you can see, they've looked the other way.
He's right about Amnesty International too. They did hide their report about the killings. It's tucked away at the top of their page on South Africa. And look at how this Amnesty director tries to wriggle out of casting judgement:
The high number of deaths and injuries after police opened fire on protesting mine workers is shocking and shows an appalling disregard for human life.
Noel Kukutwa, Southern Africa Director at Amnesty International
Fri, 17/08/2012
Apparently demanding a judicial inquiry into the events is being too soft. What should they have asked for? A UN authorised nuclear strike?
Is this what people like Bolt and O'Neill have been reduced to? A tradgedy like this occurs somewhere in the world and the lack of an editorial (despite the existence of reports and other commentary) indicates a newspaper's part in a conspiracy of silence? Do we really want to spend all of our time finding out which acts of brutality the other side hasn't condemned yet? Pathetic.
As for world leaders keeping their mouths shut, I couldn't find any news of Mitt Romney condemning the killings - is he in on the conspiracy of silence?
I couldn't find any news of David Cameron condemning the killings - is he in on the conspiracy of silence?
I searched blogs.news.com.au for 'Marikana' and only got Bolt's post quoting O'Neill - are News Ltd bloggers in on the conspiracy of silence?